I train and consult around a range of business communications topics including how to prepare, avoid and handle Crisis. I was recently in Singapore discussing this very issue with some managers from a large multi-national. But I was personally unprepared during my visit this week to the tiny island of Lanzerote.

My eight-year-old daughter and I joined another mother and her three children on what was supposed to be a care-free week of mid-term holiday fun on one of Spain’s sunny Canary Islands.

Yet, two far-from-care-free events reminded me that careful and consistent preparation is the number one way to avoid Crises – business and personal.

I’ll share our story along with these pointers as a refresher for us all.

“We’re stranded!”

Our first mishap was the very afternoon we landed last Saturday.

The travel agent had booked us a private shuttle which was supposed to deliver us to the doorstep of our villa. Instead, after the driver deposited us, our kids and our luggage– and departed – we noticed a stranger basking at what we thought was our pool.

While he was kind, he also insisted this was his rental villa. A group of local cleaners who were onsite tidying agreed. His paperwork all checked out.

They took one look at the paperwork my friend showed them and shook their heads. Our destination’s typed address proved a puzzle.

Yes, this villa is number 20. Yes, “Playa Blanca” is the name of the town we were in. But! The street name on the sheet was from a town that was apparently a 40-minute drive north. Yikes! For good measure, they observed that the zip code listed didn’t even exist in Lanzerote. Terrific.

Neither of the two phone numbers typed on the information sheet connected to a live person. One wasn’t working at all and the other said to call back during regular business hours Monday through Friday.

Fortunately for us, the cleaners stayed to help us try and put the pieces of the puzzle together. Since they spoke fluent Spanish, they managed to contact the shuttle service which, in turn, managed to track down a someone from the property management company who revealed that our villa was actually number 26. Six doors down. No explanation was provided for the error.

All this, after more than an hour being stranded with four understandably confused and cranky kids.

What if we had arrived later and no one had been there to help?!?

1. Share the plan/Make sure you know the plan – It’s important for businesses and leaders to share and get buy-in around a vision. Likewise, it might have been a good idea for the travel agent to send a copy of our villa address and other information to me, not just to my friend. In the same vein, I should have requested a copy, but I didn’t.I don’t know that I would have noticed the errors with the address. But at least being aware of the plan is a responsibility when you’re part of a team.

2. Verify information – Did any of us think to test the phone numbers on the paperwork before we needed them? Routine testing beforehand might alert that something is amiss.

“There’s been a break-in!”

Our second mishap unfolded as we returned after dinner in town to our number 26 villa Tuesday night.

Upon entering and turning on the light, we saw once-tidy clothing and papers scattered about the first two rooms. There’s been a break-in! But strangely, we then noticed that my laptop and a child’s tablet had not been removed. Could we have interrupted the intruder? Was he still inside?!?

My friend immediately called the police. We gathered the shaking children. And left.

About twenty-minutes later, four police officers arrived and we went back in with them. No more intruder – but a broken window latch downstairs. He opened it from the outside – even though we thought we had it locked from the inside.

The police guessed the intruder was only after passports or cash. We had those with us while we were at dinner. So the would-be robber took nothing, but gave us all a big fright.

We took the children’s mattresses from the downstairs bedrooms and huddled together upstairs for the remainder of the night.

The next day, our Irish travel agent contacted the property manager who sent a handy-man to fix the window. Nothing more. No words of compassion or caring.

3. Check your systems. Along with routine testing of numbers in our case, or processes in business, it’s critical to check and re-check to see what can be improved upon. We could even have checked the windows and doors ourselves – from the inside and out – before we left. This, clearly, should be the responsibility of the property manager. But, I don’t think I’ll passively depend on that again. Knowing that we were staying in an unfamiliar place, we could have insisted with our travel agent that all the locks on the windows and doors had been recently serviced.

4. Be Compassionate. This one is aimed at the property manager. My friend and I are can-do mommies and we did get to the beach and see the sights. But this was definitely not the mid-term holiday that we – or our kids – had imagined.

The fact that the property manager didn’t even offer to reduce the fee for our stay – or move us to another villa – or even send us a box of chocolates or a pizza for the kids as a sign of caring, is NOT the way to keep customers and gain business.

We are all safely aboard the plane back home as I type this with, of course, the beauty of hindsight. But it’s hindsight that I vow to turn to foresight. I pledge to hold myself to the high standard that I encourage my business partners to undertake.

Just as soon as I’m finished here reminding myself of what I could do better next time to avoid a crisis, I will be writing to our travel agent to avoid the property supplier who did NOT prevent crises for their customers – and as a result – themselves.

It’s a combination of crafting compelling content designed to connect with your audience’s hopes, dreams and alleviate fears and then delivering with the right blend of para-lingual and body language techniques.

I’m often asked how to help get rid of nervousness for a presentation. My number one piece of advice is: “Practice!”

And by practice, I mean three things:

1) Speak aloud. Don’t quietly memorize your script to yourself. Do practice aloud and in full volume. Also do not be boring. Do not be monotone. Along with volume, pay attention to the emotion that is behind each word or phrase and make sure to add pitch, inflection, tone and/or pacing to help convey each meaning. Consider emotions like surprise, enthusiasm, frustration, disappointment, imagination, hope and many more. There are so many great ways to play with the sound of your voice. Practicing aloud is where you can begin to hear the difference.

2) Stand and use gestures and expressions. Along with aloud, I also urge you to stand up. Standing up allows your lungs to better be filled with air which provides you the breath support you need to project. Standing is the more commanding and authoritative way to present. If you’re one who wants to appear folksy and approachable, I would probably still encourage you to consider standing instead. Command that room. (Oh, and get away from that dang podium. You don’t need it and it’s just a barrier between you and the real humans in the audience.) Standing also allows you to incorporate important hand gestures. Make broad gestures – even incorporating the whole body at times. Don’t flail your arms at the elbow like a seal. And please, please, please – tell your face that you are delivering some emotion too. Engage your eyes. Hold a smile. Take a pause and really look at the eyes of your audience. Engage!

3) Get in front of a mirror (or while recording video). All of this practice will be more effective if you see how others see you. Stand up and deliver in front of a mirror. Look at yourself. Do you look like you care about your audience? Are you smiling broadly when you are talking about how proud you are about this quarter’s earnings? Are you leaning in when you are encouraging your team that you know they can boost the numbers to reach projections? If you can hit record on your phone or have someone else record you, better still. There’s nothing like watching yourself played back, to help correct areas where you may be flat.

Okay! Those are my top three tips for practicing.

I’m also asked, “How many times should I practice?”

The answer:

“As many times as you need to do get extremely comfortable with the material.”

You must be solid on your introduction and closing. You should also know the middle well enough to not have to look over your shoulder to read your slide deck – Grr! The more comfortable you are with the presentation, the more comfortable you will be with your audience so you can react and respond in real time with them.

And remember, as with any presentation, it IS all about THEM.

Here’s to great practicing.

Cheers,

Gina

P.S. Last word on nerves: While you may never be perfectly calm when speaking before a large crowd, if you discipline yourself to regularly apply careful preparation and practice, you can transfer that extra adrenaline into energy that will make the delivery of your rehearsed script a powerful – and engaging – performance!